Earlier this month, I took a break from fretting over finals to attend the SML show at Public Records in Gowanus. On the train there, I chided myself for turning away from impending papers and exams, but now, looking back, there’s no way I would’ve ever allowed myself to miss this show. In darker months, seasonal depression in full swing, it’s shows like this one that have the ability to reinvigorate one’s love for music, specifically live, improvised music.
SML is a new quintet based in LA, consisting of Anna Butterss, Jeremiah Chiu, Josh Johnson, Booker Stardrum, and Gregory Uhlmann (who recently stopped by the FJ studio to perform live with duo partner Meg Duffy). The jazz collective took the stage during a three-day festival hosted by their Chicago-based label International Anthem, which saw performances by the legendary Jeff Parker and SML’s own Anna Butterss, who also just released a totally virtuosic, expansive record, Mighty Vertebrate.
This year, SML seemed to both come out of nowhere and everywhere all at once. Although they are brand new as a collective (Small Medium Large is their debut record), each member brings to the table a mature, refined, singular sound, the product of being deeply embedded in countless prior projects. The feeling I got at the SML show was that I was witnessing a group of musicians at their absolute peak, so comfortable, so settled within their given sound, a total masterclass in performance. But SML’s magic lies not within the individual, but how they move together as a single entity.
The show, two sets almost two hours long, unfolded in the most electric, alive, undulating manner, the audience utterly gripped the entire time. I saw an elderly couple tangoing, young Brooklynites trying to contain shimmying shoulders (and failing), gearheads leaning over the lip of the stage to glean Uhlmann’s rig (it’s advanced, let me tell you). Recently on the podcast I mentioned how Mike Haldeman, one of my all-time favorite guitarists here in NY, has this wizardly ability to make the guitar sound like not-guitar. Uhlmann’s mastery over his tone similarly stunned me. His role in the collective is less to overpower with solos and frills, but more to add constant dynamic texture. If you’re interested in what Uhlmann is doing on the guitar right now (which is truly unlike anything I’ve seen before), I recommend you check out his solo records.
The SML show at Public Records was astounding, the kind of show in which I surrender to the intoxicating aliveness of what is being produced in real-time and quiet my desire to analyze and dissect why I love it so much. That is a testament to how great these five musicians work as a unit. Nobody was ever showing off, nobody ever took up the entire spotlight. For two hours, SML transcended together, and although I was already a fan, I truly understand now why they have been such a breakout band in the jazz world this year.
Photo: Joyce Kim
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